The next day at 5 o'clock, the afternoon of June 2,
began the battle of Chateau-Thierry, with the Americans holding the line
against the most vicious wedge of the German advance.
BATTLE OF CHATEAU-THIERRY
The advance of the Germans was across a wheat field driving at Hill 165
and advancing in smooth columns. The United States marines, trained to
keen observation upon the rifle range, nearly every one of them wearing
a marksman's medal or, better, that of the sharpshooter or expert
rifleman, did not wait for those gray-clad hordes to advance nearer.
Calmly they set their sights and aimed with the same precision that they
had shown upon the rifle ranges at Paris Island, Mare Island, and
Quantico. Incessantly their rifles cracked, and with their fire came the
support of the artillery. The machine-gun fire, incessant also, began to
make its inroads upon the advancing forces. Closer and closer the
shrapnel burst to its targets. Caught in a seething wave of machine-gun
fire, of scattering shrapnel, of accurate rifle fire, the Germans found
themselves in a position in which further advance could only mean
absolute suicide. The lines hesitated. They stopped. They broke for
cover, while the marines raked the woods and ravines in which they had
taken refuge with machine-gun and rifle to prevent their making another
attempt to advance by infiltrating through.
Above, a French airplane was checking up on the artillery fire.
Surprised by the fact that men should deliberately set their sights,
adjust their range, and then fire deliberately at an advancing foe, each
man picking his target, instead of firing merely in the direction of the
enemy, the aviator signalled below: "Bravo!" In the rear that word was
echoed again and again.
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